Monkey Music
Monkey Music is a UK franchised early childhood music education business offering a proprietary five-stage curriculum for children aged 0–4, delivered via a national franchise network, online club, and branded e-commerce shop.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1993
- HeadquartersHarpenden, United Kingdom
- Headcount51–100
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingServices
What Monkey Music does
Monkey Music is a UK-based early childhood music education company, founded in 1993 and headquartered in Harpenden, Hertfordshire. It delivers a proprietary five-stage age-specific progressive curriculum for children from newborn to four years old — Beautiful Noise (birth to 16 weeks), Rock'n'Roll (from 3 months), Heigh-Ho (from 12 months), Jiggety-Jig (2-3 years), and Ding-Dong (3-4 years) — comprising over 500 original songs and age-appropriate lesson plans developed over three decades. The business operates through a UK-wide franchise network in which independent franchisees run weekly classes at local venues, supported by rigorous teacher training, the Monkey Music Club online membership platform, and a branded e-commerce shop selling instruments, soft toys, clothing, milestone cards, and digital playlists. Additional revenue lines include nursery and pre-school curriculum delivery (linked to UK Early Years Foundation Stage frameworks), birthday parties, holiday workshops, and live-streamed Monkey Music at Home sessions. The company also supports the Nordoff and Robbins music therapy charity through a customer donation partnership. Over one million children have attended Monkey Music classes since founding, and the franchise has received recognition from the BFAHSBC British Franchising Awards (2020, 2024) and the HSBC Elite Franchise Top 100 (ranked 45th in 2026).
Monkey Music firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Monkey Music
- Legal name
- Monkey Music Limited
- Website
- https://monkeymusic.co.uk
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1993
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 51–100 employees
- Short description
- Monkey Music is a UK franchised early childhood music education business offering a proprietary five-stage curriculum for children aged 0–4, delivered via a national franchise network, online club, and branded e-commerce shop.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Monkey Music industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Early Childhood Music Education
- NAICS
- Fine Arts Schools (61161), Fine Arts Schools (611610), All Other Schools and Instruction (61169)
- SIC
- Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Early Childhood Music Education (Ages 0–7) (EDAMANAD)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Music Instruction (Instrumental & Vocal) (EDAMAAAE), Online / Virtual Music Instruction & Platforms (EDAMANAI), Creative Arts, Music & Movement Content (EDAGACAG)
Keywords
Where Monkey Music is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Harpenden
- HQ country
- United Kingdom
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
Monkey Music business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others, Technology or R&D, Supply Chain
Revenue model
- Weekly Class Subscriptions: Monthly rolling subscription for regular weekly music classes. Payment is taken on the first business day of each month for classes booked in that calendar month. The price varies by geographic area and is shown during the booking process.
- Online Shop - Products: Sale of musical instruments, soft toys, clothing, and merchandise through the Monkey Music online shop. Products include Rainmaker (£10.99), Wave Drum (£11.99), Monkey soft toy (£21.99), and various other items. Free P&P on orders over £40.
- Digital Downloads: Sale of class-specific playlists and music downloads. Prices range from £3.49 to £7.99 for themed playlists such as Rock'n'Roll Class Playlist, Heigh-Ho Class Playlist, and Time to Sleep Playlist.
- Workshops and Events: Revenue from seasonal holiday workshops and paid events. Beautiful Noise events include access to online recorded session content accessible for 14 days after the event.
- Franchise Fees: Monkey Music operates as a franchised business. Franchisees pay to join the network and receive access to the curriculum, training, marketing support, and operational systems.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | One-time | Free First Class - New Customer Trial |
| Subscription | Monthly | Monthly Rolling Subscription - Regular Classes |
| Unit Pricing | One-time | Digital Downloads and Playlists |
| Subscription | One-time | Holiday Workshops |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels10 records
Monkey Music product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Monkey Music delivers age-specific progressive music classes for children from newborn to 4 years old through a UK-wide franchise network. The offering centres on a proprietary 5-stage curriculum (Beautiful Noise, Rock'n'Roll, Heigh-Ho, Jiggety-Jig, Ding-Dong) backed by over 500 original songs, delivered weekly in local venues by specially trained teachers with parents/carers participating. Supplementary offerings include an online membership club, an e-commerce shop for musical instruments, soft toys and digital downloads, nursery/pre-school programmes, birthday parties, and holiday workshops.
Product overview
Monkey Music is a UK-based early childhood music education company offering a five-stage age-specific progressive curriculum for children from newborn to 4 years old. The core offering consists of weekly music classes (Beautiful Noise for newborns up to 16 weeks, Rock'n'Roll for babies from 3 months, Heigh-Ho for toddlers from 12 months, Jiggety-Jig for 2-3 year olds, and Ding-Dong for 3-4 year olds), delivered by specially trained teachers across a franchise network. The company also operates a Monkey Music Club online membership, an e-commerce shop selling branded musical instruments, soft toys, clothing, and digital song downloads, as well as nursery/pre-school programmes, birthday parties, holiday workshops, and a live-streamed Monkey Music at Home service. The company has operated since 1993 and supports over one million children through its franchise network.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Monkey Music Club: Online membership club supporting class learning experience for customers in regular weekly classes.
- Beautiful Noise
- Monkey Music at Home
Products and services
- Beautiful Noise Classes A newborn baby music programme for parents and carers with babies from birth up to 16 weeks old, featuring gentle songs, lullabies and sensory experiences designed to support early bonding and musical development.
- Rock'n'Roll Classes Age-appropriate music classes for babies from 3 months, featuring gentle songs, sensory props, baby-friendly percussion instruments and lullabies designed to stimulate physical, emotional and cognitive development.
- Heigh-Ho Classes Music classes for toddlers from 12 months, featuring catchy action songs, colourful props, percussion instruments and dancing activities that support early language development, motor skills and neural bridge formation.
- Jiggety-Jig Classes Music classes for 2-3 year olds, featuring dressing-up songs, storytelling, circle dances and opportunities for children to compose their own music, building a strong musical foundation and developing confidence and social skills.
- Ding-Dong Classes Music classes for 3-4 year olds that introduce music reading, vocal improvisation, orchestral instrument exploration and collaborative music composition, preparing children for future formal music education.
- Monkey Music Club An online membership platform exclusively available to Monkey Music customers, providing access to downloadable playlists, song resources and support materials for continued music learning at home between classes.
- Monkey Music Shop An e-commerce platform selling Monkey Music-branded merchandise including musical instruments, soft toys (Monkey and Mo characters), clothing, milestone cards and digital song downloads.
- Class Playlist Downloads Digital song downloads available for each class level (Rock'n'Roll, Heigh-Ho, Jiggety-Jig, Ding-Dong, Beautiful Noise) and themed playlists (Time to Sleep, Time to Move), containing action songs, rhymes and lullabies from Monkey Music classes, priced from £3.49 to £7.99.
- Nursery & Pre-School Classes A four-stage progressive music curriculum designed for nursery and pre-school settings, linked to Early Years Foundation Stage, Foundation Phase and Early Years Framework, supporting all aspects of early learning, delivered by visiting Monkey Music teachers.
- Monkey Music Birthday Parties Monkey Music birthday party experiences for children, available through local franchisees and bookable via Parent Zone accounts or the More Fun section of the website.
- Monkey Music at Home A live-streamed online music session service accessible to Monkey Music Club members, offering real-time interactive music classes delivered via platforms such as Zoom, YouTube or Vimeo, including Beautiful Noise online sessions and Cheer Up Monkey content.
- Monkey Music Franchise Programme A franchise business opportunity for individuals to operate Monkey Music classes in their local area, featuring training, ongoing support and access to the complete Monkey Music curriculum, brand and operational systems.
Quantifiable outcome
- Over 1 million children have attended Monkey Music classes since 1993
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use Monkey Music
Customer profileNamed customers5 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Monkey Music technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature5 records
Monkey Music partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- Nordoff and RobbinsminorMonkey Music proudly supports Nordoff and Robbins, the UK's largest independent music therapy charity. Nordoff and Robbins uses music to enrich the lives of people with life-limiting illnesses, disabilities, and isolation. Monkey Music customers can donate through the partnership page.
Scale indicators5 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Monkey Music competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Baby Sensory: UK-originated franchised early-years programme for newborns and babies, offering structured developmental classes across the UK and internationally. Comparable franchise economics, age-window customer and parent-paid subscription model.
- Little Kickers: UK franchised football and multi-sport activity classes for children from 18 months to 7 years. Comparable franchise delivery model, parent-paid subscription and pre-school customer base, with adjacent (rather than overlapping) curriculum.
- Hartbeeps: UK-based franchised multi-sensory baby and toddler class programme covering newborn to age 4. Comparable in franchise structure, age-staged curriculum and parent-child participation format.
- Jo Jingles: UK-based franchise network offering structured music and movement classes for babies, toddlers and pre-schoolers. Closest direct competitor with near-identical target customer, age-staged curriculum and franchise delivery model.
- Tumble Tots: UK franchised activity programme for pre-school children (and younger) using structured physical and musical activities. Comparable franchise model, parent-paid subscription and age-staged progressive curriculum.
- Sing and Sign: UK franchise teaching baby sign language through music and songs for infants from birth to around 2 years. Direct competitor for the same parent demographic with overlapping curriculum philosophy and franchise delivery.
Broad incumbents
- Kindermusik: Global early-childhood music education programme (US-headquartered) serving newborns through age 7 through licensed educators. Comparable curriculum-led music education model with broader international footprint than Monkey Music.
- Gymboree Play & Music: International franchise offering play, music and art classes for children from birth to age 5. Comparable age window, parent-participation class format and franchise-based delivery, with broader programme scope than Monkey Music.
- Music Together: Long-running US-originated early-childhood music programme for children from birth through age 8 with licensed teachers worldwide. Closest international equivalent in pedagogy and parent-child class format.
Others
- Nordoff Robbins: UK's largest independent music therapy charity, listed as a charitable partner of Monkey Music. Adjacent rather than competitive; relevant as the category-defining music-therapy counterpart and as a partnership channel.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Monkey Music social profiles
Digital presenceMonkey Music financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Monkey Music leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Monkey Music funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Monkey Music M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Monkey Music
What does Monkey Music do?
Monkey Music delivers age-specific progressive music classes for children from newborn to 4 years old through a UK-wide franchise network. The offering centres on a proprietary 5-stage curriculum (Beautiful Noise, Rock'n'Roll, Heigh-Ho, Jiggety-Jig, Ding-Dong) backed by over 500 original songs, delivered weekly in local venues by specially trained teachers with parents/carers participating. Supplementary offerings include an online membership club, an e-commerce shop for musical instruments, soft toys and digital downloads, nursery/pre-school programmes, birthday parties, and holiday workshops.
Is Monkey Music a public or private company?
Monkey Music is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Monkey Music founded?
Monkey Music was founded in 1993. It employs 51 to 100 people.
Where is Monkey Music based?
Monkey Music is headquartered in Harpenden, United Kingdom, in the Europe region.
How does Monkey Music make money?
Five revenue lines are on record. Weekly Class Subscriptions are the primary driver. The others are online Shop - Products, digital Downloads, workshops and Events and franchise Fees.
Who are Monkey Music's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Baby Sensory, Little Kickers, Hartbeeps, Jo Jingles, Tumble Tots and Sing and Sign. Broad incumbents are Kindermusik, Gymboree Play & Music and Music Together. Nordoff Robbins is listed as an others.
Does Monkey Music have an API?
No public API is recorded for Monkey Music.
What industry is Monkey Music in?
Monkey Music's product category is Early Childhood Music Education. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EDAMANAD, Early Childhood Music Education (Ages 0–7), with a secondary code of EDAMAAAE, Music Instruction (Instrumental & Vocal). Its NAICS code is 61161 and its SIC code is 7900.